So, I thought I would throw up a post giving my thoughts on the bevy of information we have gleaned from Pax in the last two days. I will say, right up front, that I like just about all of it and I am looking forward to Rift even more after this weekend’s news. There is a smattering of stuff I do not like or have my doubts about until I see it in action but, for the most part, I love it all. So, without further ado, my quick hits on what I like and what I did not!

I love all the guild feature news! More and more MMOs are going this way and it is a great thing. I love that Rift is going to ship with such a full-featured Guild system. The Guild levels, the banners, the Guild quests….I love it all.

The Mage Storm Caller sounds interesting, though I never really play mage classes. I am sure it will be a handful to defeat in PvP, as most “Ice” mages are. I am sure I will love to hate this guy!

I love that Rift will ship with at least two raids, which is more than WoW shipped with! Really looking forward to facing the dragon in Greenscale Blight.

PvP flagging on PvE servers is great for the PvE’ers. Gives them a bit of a choice. As I will be rolling PvP, however, it has no effect on me.

Chloromancer sounds really interesting. A healing mage. What will differentiate this from your normal healing class? Perhaps we will see something akin to the Bloodmage in Vanguard?

Tier Raid progression is par for the course. You should expect this in raiding games so it is no surprise that Rift will do it this way as well.

The AA system from high-level Rifts sound interesting. Really need more information before I get too excited about this one.

Aaah, the Token system for Raids. First thing I do not like. I like the old way of doing things. Just drop the loot! Mayhap they will change this from the WoW system and make it better. I can only hope!

Very glad duels are in. Missed them in WAR.

The Quest Helper I can do without. I like to explore and the Quest Helper just sits there and teases you with its information.

World Bosses! Yes, WORLD BOSSES!!! And they are contested!! This might be the single most exciting information I heard from Pax!! I loved the World Dragons in vanilla WoW and I really loved having to fight off Horde to kill them. This is awesome news!!!

Mage Dominator class sounds like it will be a real pain in the rear in PvP. Still, it is awesome to see a class that focuses on CC again. So many MMOs are increasingly scared of CC and I think it adds strategy and tactics to both PvE and PvP.

I love that they are not allowing add-ons which, in extreme cases, almost play the game for you. I see it as an unnecessary crutch as long as the default UI is good and able to be moved around and resized.

I love that there is no cross-faction communication. The opposite side is there to kill. Period. End of story.

Capital City raids!! Another thing I am glad and excited for.

Love that the instance Kilrathi went into was difficult. Ratchet up that difficulty, Trion. I like a challenge!

Opening Rifts and pushing them to attack the opposing faction! Another way to mess with the other side and I love it!

I wish there were appearance slots. They add a lot to the game. Hopefully in the future?

I would like to see Player Housing but it is not a deal-breaker for me. Hopefully in the future?

I love that all the reports are saying that the production values seem extremely high. Might we finally get a really polished, working and content-rich MMO at release? Rift might change our perceptions of newly released MMOs!

I really, really, really love that everyone describes combat as responsive and tight. The more positive comparisons I read between Rift combat and WoW combat, the happier I am. After player WAR and its mushy combat, this is a great thing!

And, of course, the reports that beta is “Soon” is fantastic!

So, there you have it. My quick-hit thoughts on the Pax information! Disagree? Let me know in comments! Thanks for reading!

4 Responses

Agree with all, except for the cross-faction communication. It seems you are more of a PVP server player but:
-for PVE in Rift, it might be useful to have elementary communication options in case a large community (the ones that make up a bunch of guilds and have a website together) decide to take on rifts together
-RP servers would find it amazing. I’m reminded of seeing an ‘execution’ of a blood elf in front of Stormwind. Wouldn’t it be so much better if the blood elf could spit back an insult, and everyone would understand? I don’t see anything wrong with /say, and maybe /whisper… just stay out of the channels otherwise, and we’re cool

Otherwise, I LOVE all the info coming out. I have my little iffy things on a few points, but 9/10 of the game looks better and better.

I am a PvP player, no doubt, and I do not want it there. But I completely understand where you are coming from and I would not mind seeing them give you the ability for limited communication between factions. Always remember, my blog will be written from a PvP player’s point of view, though I will always try to keep the PvE aspect in mind! 🙂